No playoff pressure, just football

That was evident by the game of two-hand touch football that Portsmouth High School linemen were playing following practice for today’s Turkey Bowl against Dover at Tom Daubney Field.

“It’s a little more relaxed,” Portsmouth senior lineman Rick Holt said. “We’re going to try to have a fun day and it’s good to play on Thanksgiving. I know I’ll be watching football after. It’s a whole day of football and it’s a pretty good way to cap off the year.”

The Clippers (9-2, 8-2 Division III) can rest easy just five days after beating Goffstown, 54-27, for their second straight state championship. Today’s game gives the players, especially the seniors, one more chance to wear the maroon and gold.

“It still feels good to come back to practice knowing that we won the championship and we still have one more game,” senior lineman Kurtis Leonard said.

Senior wide receiver Colin MacDonald, who caught two touchdown passes in Saturday’s win, won’t play in today’s game due to a shoulder injury. He’ll be joined on the sidelines by leading rusher Dillon Crosby (724 yards) and Jake Becker, among others. Portsmouth coach Bill Murphy said he expects junior quarterback Donovan Phanor to play. Phanor missed the final two games of the regular season with a knee injury before returning for the playoffs.

This is the seventh and likely final installment of the Thanksgiving Day game between the Seacoast rivals. Portsmouth athletic director Rus Wilson said the decision has been made to end the series due, in part, to the Clippers’ short break between football and basketball seasons in recent years.

“We have been fortunate to play in the Division III championship game six out of the past seven years, so the game often falls five days after the championship game,” Wilson said. “A half to two-thirds of our basketball team also plays football, and we have lost several players over the past few years to injuries in the Thanksgiving game.

“We already have 3-4 basketball players out with football injuries,” he added. “So after talking with numerous players and all the football coaches over the past couple of years we thought it was in the best interest of the student-athletes to give them the holiday week back to rest, recover and spend the holiday with their families.”

Dover leads the series, 4-2, after last year’s 41-21 victory over Portsmouth. Longtime Green Wave coach Ken Osbon doesn’t want to see the series end. He said it would be sad to see the rivalry disappear after 94 games. The teams played every year during the regular season until the Clippers moved down to Division III in 2006.

“I think this is a tradition that should continue; I think it’s nice to have a game at the end of the year where it isn’t life or death,” Osbon said. “The problem would be solved if we were in the same division, but we’re not, and Thanksgiving is the best for it.

“I don’t think there are too many high school teams across the country who have played almost 100 times,” Osbon added. “It’s great for the communities. I don’t know exactly what their reasoning is, but I think it’s something that should continue.”

Portsmouth wanted to withdraw from the series after last year, but Dover had trouble finding another opponent for the game.

“It’s always good to have a chance to play another game,” Murphy said. “It’s just that when you don’t have the players to play the game, it makes it difficult.”

It was a hard-luck season for Dover, which lost to the four Division II playoff teams — Winnacunnet, Bedford, Keene and Bishop Guertin — by a combined 14 points. Dover (3-7, 3-5 Division II) is led by junior quarterback Derek Stegman and running backs Kyle Seawards and Colin Shaughnessy. Lineman Matt Dow and linebackers Eric Nelson, Noah Boucher and Eric Waddingham also anchor the Green Wave.

“Low numbers have been our biggest problem and we’re going to have to rebuild the next couple of years,” Osbon said. “We didn’t have a great record, but we’ve been competitive for what we have.”

Osbon is fully aware of Portsmouth’s numerous standouts on both sides of the ball.

“We’ve done pretty good against teams that have one guy to focus on,” Osbon said. “Portsmouth presents a tremendous challenge. They’re the two-time champions and have so many weapons that they use.”

Murphy expects the Green Wave to be on top of their game after an extra couple weeks of preparation. The teams also know each other well from 7-on-7 drills during the summer.

“Dover has an excellent coaching staff, and while we were preparing for the playoffs, they were focusing on us,” Murphy said. “They’re going to be very well prepared and we’ll have a challenge.”

Holt said even though the game doesn’t count in the standings, he and his teammates want to leave this season with the best possible effort.

“Last year we kind of gave up; we were up by two scores and lost,” Holt said. “We want to at least make it competitive this year.”

Nothing that happens today will take away Portsmouth’s championship, but Murphy wants to end the season on a good note.

“We were in the same situation last year, but any time you play a game, you want to win,” Murphy said. “It’ll be fun. We’ll hopefully put on a show for the crowd.”

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